Catholic Classrooms

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Laura Pearl has started an online women's book club called "Grace Filled Tuesdays."If you haven't yet checked it out, it is just week #2 and well worth the time!Explore God's grace...and a heroine whose namesake is Grace Kelly!

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Or
is your faith life a bit stalled and you wonder how to jumpstart it?

Your
vocabulary is the key to it all and understanding these five simple words can drastically
change your life.

Word
One: Disordered

Our
world gets a bit crazier every day. More things take up our time and energy and
consequently leave us less time for God. Our dreams, desires and longings get
caught up in the ways that we experience the world. So, instead of dreaming
God’s dreams for our lives, we live with and pursue disordered dreams and
desires. We keep ourselves on Satan’s treadmill where our disordered existence
exhausts us and steals our joy.

“Lord,
remove the disordered desires from my mind and heart so that I may experience
your peace and dream your dreams for my life. Do not allow the illusions of the
evil one to infiltrate my heart or mind where I unwittingly allow them to
undermine or replace your plans for me and my life.”

Word
Two: Mightily

It
is easy to feel defeat as we move through life but this isn’t supposed to be
our existence at all. We are meant to mightily move through life because the
battle has already been won for us through Christ! When we feel discouraged, we
ought to call upon the conquest we have in Jesus’ shed blood.

“Lord, help me see that in all my
circumstances, I am able to call upon you and mightily move through them. Let
me find the strength I need to boldly and confidently call upon your promises. You
have made sure that I am never alone and in that awareness let me humbly but
mightily live.”

Words
Three and Four: Natural
and Supernatural

Living
in the natural means that we experience our world with our physical senses.
Oftentimes, those senses are not real
indicators of real truths. We might
not see angels but they are there. We may not hear God’s voice but He speaks to
us nonetheless. The more attention we pay to the natural, the less assurance we
tend to have of the supernatural. Today is the day to turn that around.

“Holy
Spirit, thank you for my physical senses but do not let them be the only way
that I experience life. Open up the eyes of my heart so that I may
supernaturally experience life and always remember that while I am on the
earth, I am not off the earth. Mine is life meant to live in the spirit. Let
that begin today!”

Word
Five: Victory

The
evil one is more than happy when believers get stuck this side of the Cross. He
delights when believers focus on the Crucifixion at the expense of the
Resurrection. It is critically important that believers experience the Cross
and Crucifixion as part of the journey and not the destination. Victory belongs
to the believer. Victory takes the believer beyond the Cross to the Throne.
Victory takes the believer beyond the Crucifixion to the Resurrection.

“Father,
through your Son I have victory. Do not allow the difficult experiences of my
life to overwhelm and define me. Please stay with me as I persevere to my final
destiny given to me freely through your Son. In Jesus’ name, victory is mine!”

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

If you are looking for something unique and engaging, consider Laura Pearl's online book club! Join women from around the country and share thoughts, gain insights, and just have fun!Laura is the author of two novels: Finding Grace and her latest novel Erin's Ring.She's a gifted storyteller and a funny and warm-hearted blogger (as well as mother of five grown sons...) Nancy Carabio Belanger (author of The Gate which won first place in the 2014 Catholic Press Awards for novels) has said about Laura's latest novel: "This wholesome novel had me shed tears of sadness and joy, and these brave young Irish-Catholic women from different generations drew me in. Lovingly and tenderly written, Erin's Ring is a story of true friendship, sacrificial love, and above all, the God Who is never bound by time or space."

Erin's Ring

Catholic Press Award Winner!

"Presented in a story-within-a-story, Erin's Ring offers an historical novel set within the story of two contemporary teen-age friends from very different kinds of families. Both stories have elements of Catholicism offered as ordinary and important parts of life. The small town setting is appealing and the characters are multi-dimensional. Erin's Ring would appeal to younger teens and older ones looking for light reading."

This is a charming story, beginning with a charming cover and with a good measure of history, contemporary drama, and spirituality between the covers. It is highly readable and can be used effectively as an evangelization tool for young people who would otherwise never open a book that espoused Catholic morals and teachings. Adults, particularly of the Celtic persuasion will enjoy this lighthearted yet meaningful tale as well.